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JUDGES STAND *y CHARLES HATT0N CHURCHILL DOWNS, Louisville, Ky., May 9. — Ponder won the money, but Capot won many of the crowds hearts in the "Run for the Roses." With all due respect for the Calumet colts splendid condition and undoubted ability to stay, it was Capot who made a fight of the anniversary Derby from start to finish. The Greentree colt ran like a "he" horse. He killed off Olympia in a nip-and-tuck speed duel to the stretch, which takes a bit of doing, then turned back a bid from Palestinian and ran away from the stretch-runner, Old Rockport. But Ponder simply came along with wet sail and caught him a little tired in the last furlong. Ironically, his stablemate, Wine List, was of no help to him, but as it turned out he was a great deal of help to Ponder. One wonders if Ponder can beat him doing anything in a two-horse race. At the same time we shouldnt be at all surprised if the Preakness is pretty much the same sort of a race as the Derby. The successful Ponder is by the equally surprising Pensive, who won the Downs classic in 1944. So far as we are aware, he is the first of his sires progeny to win up to now, and is out of the unraced mare, Miss Rushin, who was so called because she was foaled on January 1. Miss Rushin is by Blenheim II. from a sister to Pansy Walker. Calumet has his half-brother, a colt by Bull Lea named Skelter, amongst its two-year-olds this season. AAA The training Stephenses of Midway leave soon for Pimlico and points East with Royce Martins successful Woodvale string. "They are a well-balanced lot of horses," trainer Woody Stephens thinks, "and they are taking their training very satsfactorily." The group includes the handicapper Page Boots, the Belmont Stakes efeSbles Halt, and Sport Page, the Oaks fillies Lady Dori-mar and Tall Weeds, and assorted two-year-olds by Our Boots and Haltal. In case youve forgotten, Page Boots last year won the Kent and Leonard Richards Stakes. He is a dark chestnut with a long flaxen mane and tail, Ponder Money, Capot Glory in Derby Bill Stephens Trains Woodvale Division Woody Preps Sparkle Plenty for Caps Shy Guy Prospect For MRAS Features markings that have suggested the nickname "Sparkle Plenty" to Duvie Headley. Everyone remarks how fit Stephens brought the Woodvale horses out of winter quarters this spring, but he says that a good deal of the credit belongs to his younger brother, Bill Stephens. "He is easily the best horse in my barn, and I think that he has a bright future as a trainer," Woody estimated. Bill is a tireless lad of 26 and he has been Woodys first assistant since he was 17, except for a three years interval overseas. As a youngster of 16 he rubbed Our Boots, and he broke all the present Woodvale string as yearlings. "He trained Lady Dorimar, Tall Weeds, Halt and 19 others at Keeneland last winter," Woody remarked, "and he is going to take a division to New Jersey and Delaware this summer." AAA Woodvales chief trainer is himself a young man, and he says, "I was vaccinated for a jockey, but it didnt take." His first job was with John Ward, trainer of the Everglades Stable. That was in the spring of 29 and Woody was 15. He rode his first winner opening day at Hialeah in 31, but soon became too heavy, and turned to breaking yearlings, for Senator Camden, Russell Firestone and Fred Burton. In the spring of 1940 he saddled his first horse, something named Bronze Bugle. "I sent him over a maiden, and called him back a winner," Stephens said in his jaunty way. He trained his first string of any size when he took over Jules Finks horses in July of 44. Racing exclusively in New York, they won 157 races in two seasons. Saguaro was claimed for ,500 and won the Excelsior. In the summer of 47 Stephens took over the Frankel horses, won 27 races with them and brought out the glib, wise-cracking, capable apprentice Pete Anderson, for whom Walter Chrysler paid 5,000. Last season Stephens took over the Martin string, and you know the rest. A good deal of it is in the American Racing Manual, under Winners of Important Stakes. AAA Detroiters will have "a braggin horse" of their own this summer in the slight form of Charles T. Fishers four-year-old Shy Guy. He could be a starter in Saturdays 5,000 Border City Handicap at a mile and a sixteenth, and the 5,000 Col. F. M. Alger Memorial Handicap at a mile and a furlong on Decoration Day. There was some notion of flying him to Jamaica to meet Coaltown again in the Gallant Fox a couple of weeks ago, but it was decided to keep him here for the seventy-fifth Clark instead, and he ran a particularly game race to win it. Miss Mary Fisher bred Shy Guy from old Tootsie-cake, a sad sack of a mare whose lack of any distinctive qualities let her owner in for some banter from other members of the Fisher family. But Shy Guy changed all that when he grew from a rather puny foal into a stakes winner. Trainer Jack Hodgins has him at the top of his form just now and he has added the Ben Ali and Clark to his score here in Kentucky this spring. AAA Turf ana: Paddock judge Tommy Oliphant estimates the mile around two turns at the Downs is two full seconds slower than the mile out of the chute. ... A half-brother, by Haltal, to Lady Dorimar, is among Woodvales more likeable two-yedr-old prospects. . . . Olympia may appear in a Jersey stake. . . . One California farm has been valued at ,000 per acre, for real estate developments. . . . Charles Howards pensioners now number about 20. . . . Hirsch Jacobs just sniffs and points to Palestinian, when someone quotes the old saw about "four white feet." . . . Ocean Drive takes sinus treatments. . . . The MRA Stimulation Rule expressly states, "No ruling of any kind, however, shall be made on a mere presumption of guilt." . . . Clifford Mooers says he may fly Old Rockport west for The Westerner, but that the colt will make that decision.
